Does anyone see the value in a "Reloading Club"? For example, dedicate storefront space and build out reloading stations and charge reloaders to come rent a station for a particular amount of time in order to reload their components.

I think having the monthly speakers/workshops would be pretty cool. We used to do something similar in the bonsai club I'm in. We would get together and discuss bonsai, a particular aspect of it, and then we would all work on our tree the rest of the time.

I'm sure a small percentage of reloaders, mostly new guys, would be interested in such a club. Howerever, reloading is a minor activity, mostly scattered inviduals do it, so you would have to be in a highly populated area to have a chance of getting enough new reloading guys in the same area to make it work. Highly populated areas are cities. Cities have few shooting ranges and few hunting opportunities so that would probably defeat the effort before it begins.

Some of our better gun clubs have the kind of facilities and new guy helpers you suggest tho.

Thought of trying to do something along that line here without having the reloaders on site. Maybe have a small clubhouse or meeting place of sorts with meetings once a week. A place where everyone can list their reloading preferences and what equipment they have etc. and share the wealth of knowledge. Guys would be able to hook up with one another and maybe swap powders, loan tools to try with each other, give show and tell instructional help and so on. Maybe have range sessions where you are proof testing your loads and keep a club log of good as well as bad loads . Run double stack targets so the club has a copy as well as the shooter. Have monthly swap meets and so on, you get the idea. Nothing too overwhelming for any one person to have to operate , just more of a collective of sorts. In line of what happened today at the Elementary school in Connecticut also try to do some community work that helps shed some GOOD rather than bad light on the shooting sports. This could easily be a forum all to itself.

Our local grassroots political group has a discussion forum for all things related to the hobby/lifestyle and we have a forum for handloading as well.

A couple years ago, someone suggested that like-minded handloaders who were in the same city (and surrounding areas) might get together over coffee to chit chat, swap brass and stories and just talk about the hobby.

The HUG group was born and it's 100% informal.

If you want to learn about handloading and no nothing and own no equipment, we welcome you to a meeting. There is no schedule for these meetings -- someone just throws up a post and says, "we haven't got together in a bit, how about this place at XXXX road, say, Saturday about 6pm?" and the next meeting is thusly hatched.

We don't have equipment present (though we often bring specific tools) and we don't produce handloads at these meetings. If there is a complete beginner, we focus on their questions and needs. If there is nobody new, we discuss projects someone might be undertaking.

Failing those items...we just end up being a group of gun cranks aged 25 to 65 who swill some coffee (or eat a burrito depending on where we gather!) and we talk guns and shooting with like-minded folks.

We swap or donate brass, sometimes we sell dies or other small bits. No meeting has ever been unproductive or unenjoyable.

If you HAVE a local group or forum, follow this lead. It's a good, good time and for some of the folks who believe handloading is difficult or picking tools to begin with is simply hard to get a handle on, a meeting like this might be exactly what they need.

__________________Attention Brass rats and other reloaders: I really need .327 Federal Magnum brass, no lot size too small. Tell me what caliber you need and I'll see what I have to swap. PM me and we'll discuss.

As a commercial undertaking I imaging such and operation would be a liability insurance nightmare. Basically its like bringing a large number of inexperienced persons in to play with explosives. As soon as someone screws up and has damage it's going to be your fault for not telling them that you can't substitute Bullseye for H4831.

__________________Attention Brass rats and other reloaders: I really need .327 Federal Magnum brass, no lot size too small. Tell me what caliber you need and I'll see what I have to swap. PM me and we'll discuss.

Plus the abuse on the equipment alone. Forcing something that wont go. Dirty brass wrecking dies. Powder spills.
Storage would be a nightmare for just me alone!
People blaming the equipment for messed up rounds, on and on.

BATFE might disagree... I know some local fire departments do. Though yeah, on the scale of explosive threats.. yeah. But in a court of law, I imagine that wouldn't matter much to people who aren't really our peers and don't reload.

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